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In Jazz form the Beginning, Bushell vividly recounts his musical experiences and reflects on some of the major personalities who shaped the history of jazz. Bushell's memoir vibrates with excitement of being a part of the evolution of jazz.
List of contents
* Springfield * Early Years in New York * Ethel Waters and the Black Swan Troubadors * On the Vaudeville Circuit * Sam Wooding and the Nest Club * On the Road with Chocolate Kiddies in Europe and South America * Back Home Again * Tough Guys and High Society * With Fess, Fat Man, and Fletcher * Cab Calloway * Chick Webb * On My Own * Settling Down * Rex Stewart and the Fletcher Henderson Reunion * From Dixieland to Dolphy * A Trip to Africa * Puerto Rico * Las Vegas * Appendix A: A Gavin Bushell Discography with Selected Comments and Identification of Soloists * Appendix B: A Glossary of Musicians and Performers
About the author
Jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and bassoonist Garvin Bushell (1902-1991) performed with many of the twentieth century's greatest jazz musicians.
Summary
Jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, and bassoonist Garvin Bushell (1902–1991) performed with many of the twentieth century's greatest jazz musiciansfrom Fletcher Henderson, Fats Waller, and Cab Calloway to Eric Dolphy, Gil Evans, and John Coltraneduring his remarkable career that spanned from 1916 to the 1980s. Although best known as a jazz soloist and sideman, Bushell also played oboe and bassoon with symphony orchestras and was a highly regarded instructor of woodwinds. In Jazz from the Beginning, Bushell vividly recounts his musical experiences, featuring candid assessments of the legends with whom he performed as well as eye-opening accounts of the early days of jazz and the racism that he encountered on the road. Based on a series of interviews conducted by jazz scholar Mark Tucker, these memoirs provide a colorful account of Bushell's extraordinary life and career as well as an important record of seventy years of America's musical history.
